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The Limited Options in Defensive Right/Left Balance

June 30, 2016, 11:07 AM ET [19 Comments]
Jason Lewis
Los Angeles Kings Blogger • RSSArchiveCONTACT



We hear so many little things throughout the year that make a difference, and can sometimes get overlooked. Recently with the Kings it has been about the handedness balance of their defensive corps.

First off, you might have a similar view to what I used to have: What is the big deal? Right-left, left-left, just stick two good defensemen together and it should work right?

Eh.

Before we go much further, it should be considered a must read to check out Dom Galimani's piece on Hockey Graphs about the importance of handedness. Required reading.


It really does make a difference, at least for the lower to mid-level pairs. Now it probably does not have as huge an impact as it generally would on two players like Jake Muzzin and Alec Martinez (Both left), because they are both very good players. There are always outliers, and the fact that both of them are capable defenders helps a lot.

You rarely want a player playing on his "Off-side". However, the reality with the Kings right now is they have a plethora of left shooting defensemen and only three, yes three, right shooting ones. Last season the Kings had eight left shooting and three right shooting. The left group includes the likes of Kevin Gravel, Derek Forbort, Jake Muzzin, Alec Martinez, Brayden McNabb, etc. etc.

The right handed group? Drew Doughty, Jamie McBain and Luke Schenn. Matt Greene is also a right shooting defenseman who can be factored into the future outlook, but did not play last season. Was just bought out! So never mind!




There is an incredible imbalance with the Kings right handed group.

Thus, you can really start to understand some of the Kings pairing options throughout the year. McNabb with Doughty, Scuderi with Doughty, Martinez and Muzzin together almost all year since they found a comfort level being same hand.

However next year there is going to be a question of that balance on the Kings bottom pair. With McBain potentially out, the Kings would be looking at Scuderi, Gravel, and Forbort with no righty option. That is a tough thing to look at if you are trying to maintain right left balance on a weaker pair, but somehow phase some young players into more prominent roles with the team. Forbort and Gravel played games together at the end of the year for the Reign being a left-left pair, but they are considered extremely high level for the AHL. It is also worth noting that they did struggle pretty heavily in the series against the eventual champions Lake Erie. Projecting two young, same hand defensemen into an NHL lineup might be a scary thought for Darryl Sutter. Rightfully so. This idea has prompted some members of the hockey media to toss out names like Roman Polak as potential targets of interest.

Yes, the same Roman Polak who was a much pursued trade deadline target, and also may have well been handling a cinderblock heading up ice to start the play.

View post on imgur.com


While the right-left balance is an important aspect for the Kings, they really do not NEED a top four RHD, but it would be nice. The Muzzin Martinez pair has proved capable enough to sustain the minutes, but another righty in there who can play would be nice.

However, the free agent list is devastatingly thin. There are some diamond's in the rough but it might be unrealistic to think the Kings could find a top 4 RH D in free agency. Maybe they could.

Let's take a look at some of the interesting names that could be available however, since it is summer after all. Take these names with a grain of salt.


Justin Schultz

There was reported interest in the puck mover from the Kings at the deadline when they attempted to acquire both he and Teddy Purcell from Edmonton. However for numerous reasons, including the transfer status of talented problem child prospect Nikolai Prokhorkin, the deal fell through.

Schultz is by no means a possession metric champion, but he can generate some offense and is mobile. The downside however is his questionable defensive zone play. Be that as it may Schultz still managed to come up on the right side of expected goals over the course of this year, albeit slightly at 50.43% xGF. He took a step in the right direction in terms of getting more towards the positives in most possession metrics, but was still not good enough to receive even a qualifying offer from a talented team like Pittsburgh. That may hurt him in the open market, or bring down his price tag of $3.9MM to more reasonable levels to take a chance on.

Risk, potential reward? He is still just 25-years old to boot.


Tyson Barrie

Forget about it. After a nervy few weeks, seems like Barrie will be back in the fold with Colorado.





Jakub Nakladal

Who? I wouldn't blame you if you were not familiar with the name Jakub Nakladal. However, the older defenseman was quite good with Calgary when he was finally given his shot. He did not make his NHL debut until age 28, and posted solid possession numbers in the 27 games he played. It would be more of a stop gap option given his age, but the two-way D posted very positive team relative numbers and overall good defensive numbers. For a bottom pair right handed option, that might not be the worst guy to take a shot at.


Yannick Weber

Again, if you are looking at a RH bottom pair options, you could do a lot worse than Yannick Weber.

If you look at that healthy dash 17 on his stat column, you might be deterred. However, that's a minus 17 on a really bad Vancouver team. Weber was actually positive in team relative possession metrics, but benefited from playing with both Dan Hamhuis and Ben Hutton for most of the season.

Nevertheless his numbers did not altogether plummet away from those two.

Although he has some middling possession numbers and his on the older side at age 28, he wouldn't be a bad RHD for a team to acquire to fill out their roster if they were in desperate need of the balance.

View post on imgur.com



Just Re-Sign Jamie McBain

The devil you know.

McBain didn't get much of a shot to get in regular competition this year he was not altogether bad. He just was not incredibly good. McBain is probably perfect for the role the Kings had him in all things considered. 7th D. Pushing him further up the lineup is probably not the best idea, and the risk/reward probably wouldn't really be worth it.


Yikes right? Yes, these are essentially the best options a team would have for RH defensemen on the open market. So the option of actually trading for one probably becomes much higher a possibility depending on the cost.

When you look at it, what amount of caution do you throw to the wind with a left-left pair? While the handedness seems to matter, would you risk bringing in an older, non-home grown player just to get that balance or just work with what you have? It seems the flavor of the month on social media seems to be that the Kings need a defenseman. However, if they are willing to move ahead with a rotation of Gravel/Forbort/McBain on the bottom pairs, you could do worse.

It is certainly not a healthy buyer's market for teams seeking RHD, and if the Kings REALLY want something, it might come in another fashion.

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